Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak together with Dr Emmanuel Marfo, Member of Parliament for Oforikrom Constituency and Ms Darkoa Newman, Member of Parliament for Okaikwei South, all pledged their unflinching support to the disability movement in Ghana.
This was after Dr. Apaak and his colleagues joined leadership of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations in their meeting with the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin at a meeting during the week.
At the said meeting, their partners appealed to Mr. Speaker to: 1) Make time to inaugurate our disability caucus to enhance our advocacy in and out of Parliament; 2) Facilitate the re-enactment of the disability law; 3) Ratification of the African Disability Protocol (ADP).
The Speaker on his part posited that parliament remains committed to the cause of disability and inclusion in Ghana.
“We need to have a number of physically
challenged persons as Members of
Parliament, it is one of the benchmarks for
assessing parliaments in the world” he said.
Mr Bagbin made the remark when selected
members of the disability movement and the
Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations
(GFD) paid a courtesy call on him.
“We are working on all these things to make our parliament inclusive; we will do our best to
inaugurate the disability caucus by the end of
the year.”
The delegation was led by Ms. Rita Kyeremaa Kusi, Executive Director of the GFD. She stated that there was a need for an enriched and enhanced debate on disability problems at the parliamentary level.
She urged the Speaker of Parliament to assist in the re-enactment of the disability law so that individuals with disabilities can exercise their rights in Ghana.
Ghana, she noted, has failed to ratify the African Disability treaty (ADP), a treaty that takes into account African practises and concerns when dealing with disability issues.
She stated that the process of signing and ratifying the ADP had begun many years ago, but that there had been problems, and she requested the speaker’s assistance in the process.
They also want the legislature to have a
formalized disability caucus that will support
the disability movement in its advocacy and
to help effectively monitor and contribute to
the disability discussions on the floor of
parliament.
Reacting after the meeting the MP for Builsa South said:
Colleagues,
Hon. Marfo, Hon. Newman and I joined the leadership of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations in their meeting with the Speaker of Parliament yesterday.
Our partners appealed to Mr. Speaker to: 1) Make time to inaugurate our disability caucus to enhance our advocacy in and out of Parliament; 2) Facilitate the re-enactment of the disability law; 3) Ratification of the African Disability Protocol (ADP).
Mr Speaker pledged his full support and promised to help in every way he could.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
